Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Reaches New 12-Month High After Dividend Announcement

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $275.63 and last traded at $273.80, with a volume of 44734 shares. The stock had previously closed at $269.74.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $286.25.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The company has a market capitalization of $8.31 billion, a PE ratio of 21.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $248.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $253.10.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $968.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $996.52 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.50 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,149,459 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $235,444,000 after purchasing an additional 45,666 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Acuity Brands by 2.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 835,521 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $201,728,000 after buying an additional 20,537 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 629,893 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $152,085,000 after acquiring an additional 20,832 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,007 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $106,201,000 after acquiring an additional 63,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.7% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $98,306,000 after acquiring an additional 107,171 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Company Profile

Acuity Brands, Inc provides lighting, lighting controls, building management system, location-aware applications in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (ABL); and the Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG). The ABL segment provides commercial, architectural, and specialty lighting solutions, as well as lighting controls and components for various indoor and outdoor applications under the A-Light, Aculux, American Electric Lighting, Cyclone, Dark to Light, eldoLED, Eureka, Gotham, Healthcare Lighting, Holophane, Hydrel, Indy, IOTA, Juno, Lithonia Lighting, Luminaire LED, Luminis, Mark Architectural Lighting, nLight, OPTOTRONIC, Peerless, RELOCWiring Solutions, and Sensor Switch.